And They Lived
by prodigalchicken
Summary: How Walter copes.


Title: And They Lived

Author: ProdigalChicken

Rating: Squeaky

Spoilers: Finale

Summary: Walter will always miss his son.

Author's note: I will miss Fringe and my Bishop boys so, so much. I loved this show like no other. Here's my take on how Walter would have kept up with his son's life. This is a little sloppy, but it's heartfelt. I miss the Bishop boys already. For the sake of this story, let's just say this is Walter contemplating things.

December 22, 2172

Norway

Walter Bishop's Apartment

Walter Bishop desperately misses his son. Oh, he knows what happened to Peter. As soon as he and the boy were able to convince the Norwegian scientist to change the way he thought about intellect vs. emotion, he found every possible mention of his son in recorded history. There wasn't a lot. Peter wasn't an important historical figure or a world famous scientist, but what was initially found was evidence of a life well lived.

He knew, for instance, that his son had lived until the age of 92 and that Olivia had preceded him in death by a few short months (those two never could make it very long without each other). He knew that his son and daughter-in-law had five (FIVE!) children—Henrietta Elizabeth (Etta), Walt Christopher, Owen Patrick, Emma Jane, and John Thomas (Tommy), the last of whom Walter deduced by date of birth was a late in life surprise. Those children had even more children and by the time of their deaths, his Peter and Olivia were not only grandparents, but great-grandparents, too. It was hard for him to imagine his boy as a great-grandfather, but there it was recorded for all time in a rather lengthy obituary. Peter had continued as a government consultant and had worked with Olivia until they both took retirement right around the time their youngest graduated high school.

He had found articles in various publications written by two of their children—Walt and Emma, who were both journalists. One article, written by Emma, had been a brief and beautiful piece about her parents written for the occasion of their 40th wedding anniversary. She had spoke eloquently and lovingly about the two people who had influenced her most in the world. From her writing, Walter had learned that Peter and Olivia had traveled after retiring and that he'd taken her to Europe to visit his teenage stomping grounds. There was an even a picture and he knew then what his boy looked like at 72 and was slightly taken aback by how much he and Peter resembled each other in their old age. Olivia and Peter were smiling at each other in the pic, and the love the two shared was quite evident.

He'd found small articles and pieces of information about the other children, mostly birth and marriage and death notices. Etta had studied art in Paris and married and had children with a European. Owen had been a lawyer practicing in Boston and had married a law school classmate. He and his wife had two sons, one named Peter. Tommy had played baseball at Wichita State and had a brief minor league career before giving up sports to study medicine and work in impoverished countries providing medical care to those who could not afford it. His namesake, Walt, and his husband had three children- two girls and a boy, all successful in their own fields and lives. Walt had covered wars and and elections and made quite the name for himself in political journalism.

Emma, too, had covered foreign events, but had also inherited her father and grandfather's love of science and had spent some time in the very building where Walter spent most of his days now. Here she interviewed scientists and covered scientific discoveries and gathered enough information to write a book about modern scientific advancements. Here, too, upon the order of her father and with the agreement of the institute, she had left a gift for her grandfather to find a hundred years in the future. Walter had found it a few weeks after his research into his family's life had come to an end. Stored in a basement storage unit, the box simply said: To Walter Bishop, from his only son, Peter Bishop. Walter had held this box in his hands reverently because his son had once held it, too. And when he opened it, he found a small treasure. A hundred jump drives filled with pictures and videos—so much more than he was ever able to find on his own. So yes, he knew what had to happened to his son through the small records left of Peter's life, but he also held a box full of years and years of moments. .. of instances in time that he was made a part of because his son loved him too much to ever really let him go.

Walter Bishop desperately misses his son. But as he watches image after image and video after video, his pain is lessened with this simple knowledge: his boy had lived.

End note: for the sake of this story, let's pretend that jump drives are never corrupted and that they will hold data for an endless amount of time and/or scientists in the future can pull stuff off of them even if they go bad.


End file.
